Sub 4 minute mile sub 4 minute mile Sub 4 minute mile Sub 4 Minute Mile: Here's a training programme designed to crack the ultimate goal: the sub-four-minute mile. Although a man of 40 years of age, Eamonn Coghlan, has run a mile in under four minutes, achieving this feat is still a major accomplishment denied to tens of thousands of other athletes.. First breaks into this domain have been unexpectedly spectacular. Some runners crash through the barrier, while others creep across it. For example, John Buckner (GB) went from 4mins.02secs for the distance to 3mins.53secs in one quantum leap. However, the first sub-four-minute man, Roger Bannister, made it by only six-tenths of a second. The late Gordon Pirie, a former 3K world record holder, cut it finer - he made it by a tenth of a second in a race against Herb Elliott (Australia) in Ireland. On hearing the result, Pirie screamed out 'I've done, I've done it!' and ran to each competitor in the race with the same message.

It has to be admitted that he was always close to it with a previous best of 4mins.00.9. It was his one and only sub-four run, whereas Steve Scott (USA) has chalked up 100 runs inside the time.. Some have attained their goal by unusual means. Terry Sullivan (Southern Rhodesia, as was) bought a book written by Bannister's coach. He started at page 1 and did precisely what was written, becoming the only man on the African continent to duck under the barrier.. How to spot the signs What are the indications that one is ready to join the select few to achieve this magical state? Years ago, when 880yds was raced, it was accepted that a time of 1min.52secs was the minimum speed necessity. Today, for the 800m, it would be half-a-second faster. But former mile record holder John Landy (Australia) cut it fine; his best 800m was only 1:51.3, yet he ran a 3:58 mile.. The 800m time appears to have a direct effect on miling aspirations.

Noureddine Morceli, with a mile time of 3:44.39, has an 800m time of 1:43.99, which if multiplied by two is 3mins.27.98, 16.41secs short of his mile time. Seb Coe's best mile is 3:47.33; his 800m time, 1:41.73, when doubled, is 23.87secs short of his mile figure. Said Aouita's best mile is 3:46.76, his 800m time is 1:43.86 - 19.04secs short.. If we take an average of these deficits it is 19.6secs, and if we apply that as a measure to one's 800m time, we get an estimate of our miling potential, eg, 1:52/800m X 2 = 3:44 + 19 = 4:03.

It is clear that an athlete with an 800m time of 1:50 and less has a better chance of running a sub-four mile.. But all is not lost for the non-speedy athlete. One of my runners in 1970 had a reading of only 1:51 for 800m but he ran a 3:56 mile. Using the previous calculations, his combined 800m time was only 14secs short of his mile time. Thus we have a range of 14-19secs deficit to measure miling potential. The important omitted factor in this case was his 3K time, 7mins.49secs. If we halve this we get 3mins.54.5secs, and the customary deduction to ascertain the 1500m time is less 15secs. In this case it comes to 3mins.39.5secs, the equivalent of a 3mins.56.5secs/mile (adding 17secs to the 1500m time).. How much preparation?

The age when an athlete is most likely to break four minutes for the first time is now 22. Two decades ago it was 24. The youngest-ever sub-four man was 17-year-old Jim Ryun, who went on to break world records at the mile, 1500m, half-mile and 800m. The 1500m gold medal escaped him in two Olympics. He suffered all his athletic life from asthma.. Opinions differ as to the preparatory work required leading up to the track season. Arthur Lydiard (NZ) advocated building up to 100 miles a week of steady running for 10 weeks, followed by six weeks of extensive, fartlek-type hill running. In stark contrast, Bannister did only 28 miles a week in the winter, most of it on an ash track, five laps to the mile, consisting mainly of 10 X 440yds in 66secs, with 440yds jog recovery in a fast two minutes. Each month the time for the repetitions was reduced by a second.

He also did 3 X 11/2 miles on the track at 14mins.30secs pace for 5K. He reached the stage when the 440yd reps were being done in 56secs. Lydiard's protege, Peter Snell, 16 years after Bannister's best time of 3mins.58.8secs was to run 4.5secs faster on three-and-a-half times the quantity of training.. Sebastian Coe devoted his winter to weight-training three times a week, hill running and a session at his estimated 5K pace (13mins.20secs). He was able to run 7 X 800 well under 2mins.08secs with 45secs rest. His longest run was 10 miles at sub-6mins/mile and shorter runs at 51/2 mins/mile. He started each track season with an indoor race at 3K in under eight minutes.. Study the physiological make-up of the mile If opinions differed as to what winter work produced the best results, there was some unanimity about the necessity of frequent weekly track sessions during the summer.

A sub-four-minute aspirant can do no better than look at the physiological make-up of the mile race. The total oxygen requirement is nearly 40 litres, of which only half can be breathed in - thus it is half-aerobic and half-anaerobic.. Aerobic running comes in many guises. There is pure aerobic running: jogging - 100%, marathon speed - 90%. But there is also predominantly aerobic running: 10K speed - 90%, 5K speed - 80% and 3K speed - 60%. The difference in actual execution is 4secs per 400m, or 16secs per mile. For example, if the marathon pace is 6mins/mile (90secs/400m), half-marathon pace would be 5mins.44secs/mile, 10K pace would be 5mins.28secs/ mile, 5K pace 5mins.12secs/mile and 3K pace 4mins.56secs/mile. This, of course, works in reverse.

Given a 1500m time of 4mins (64secs/400), the 3K pace would be 68secs/400 and the 5K pace 72secs/400.. The anaerobic requirement is as follows: 100m - 100%, 200m -95%, 400m - 83%, 800m - 67% and the mile - 50%.. Physiologists are agreed that the oxygen uptake ( VO2max ) is best improved by work in the range of 80-100% VO2max. Sub-four milers must acquire a VO2max in excess of 75mls/kg/min. The maximum for runners is around 82mls/kg/min. This 80 - 100% zone will rule out jogging and marathon pace running. Half-marathon pace work just gets into the pathway at the slower end, while the athlete's 3K speed occupies the other faster, predominantly aerobic pathway..

A programme to break the barrier We are now in a position to compile a programme based on physiological data to break the four-minute barrier for the mile: DAY 1 (Aerobic, 80% VO2max). Run half-marathon distance 64secs per mile slower than for one's best mile time. Example: best mile time 4:10, run 5mins.14secs/mile or as near as possible to this.. DAY 2 (Anaerobic, 110% VO2max). 2 X 1 X 400 + 1 X 800 + 1 X 300, at 15secs per 100m throughout. Take 30secs rest after 400m, 60secs rest after 800m and a lap walk after 300m before repeating.. DAY 3 (Aerobic, 90% VO2max). Run 10K 48secs/mile slower than for one's best mile time. Example: best mile 4:10, run 4:58/mile..

DAY 4 (Anaerobic, 130% VO2max). 4 X 400, 4secs per 400m faster than per 400m for best mile time. Example: best mile 4:08 (62/400), run 400s in 58secs, 3mins rest.. DAY 5 (Aerobic, 95% VO2max). Run 5 X 1K 8secs per 400m slower than for best mile time. Example: Best mile 4:04 (61/400), run at 69/400 = 2mins.52secs, with 60secs rest.. DAY 6 REST.. DAY 7 (Anaerobic). 1 X 350, 1 X 300, 1 X 250, 1 X 200, 1 X 150. All full out, with 400m walk after each. N.B. Race every other seventh day instead of this session..

On Day 5, alternate this session each week with an aerobic 100% VO2max session of 4 1500m, 4secs per 400m slower than for one's best mile time. Example: best mile time 4:02 (60.5/400), run 64.5/400, with 3mins rest after each.. There is a competitive pattern called 'psycho-logical race preparation'. This is where each month starts with an over-distance race, either 5K or 3K, then an under-distance race, either 400m or 800m, then the specialist distance, in this case 1500m/mile. The first confirms endurance, the second speed and the last brings both together.. Beware the third lap The great destroyer of sub-four ambitions is the third lap. Partly to blame for this is the conversion of 440yd tracks to 400m. Many athletes believe that the ability to run three minutes or just under for three circuits of a metric track puts them in line for a sub-four mile.

However, 1200m in three minutes is 3mins.45secs pace for 1500m, which converts to a 4mins.03secs mile. A more meaningful time for three laps of a metric track is 2mins.55secs, which is 3mins.39secs speed for 1500m, or around 3mins.57secs for the mile.. While the old-time milers made a point of running a three-quarters of a mile time trial each week (Jack Lovelock, 1936 Olympic 1500m gold medallist and world-record holder, wrote in his diary: 'Running three minutes for three laps is becoming too easy), I have noticed a reluctance to do this even among good-class club athletes.. One method of overcoming this reluctance is to ask the runner to cover 800m at level pace for his best 1500m time, and then to sprint the next 100m full out (900m total), repeated three times. Gradually the sprint zone is extended by 100m a time util the entire third lap is sprinted.

By this means, a runner may cover the first 800m in 2mins.08secs (64/400), and then run the third lap in 60secs. I have seen the 800m covered in two minutes and the third lap in 54 seconds using this method. This, of course, is good tactical training; it helps in creating a 'break' and covering one.. I have been fortunate in my 35 years of coaching to have assisted five athletes in breaking the four-minute barrier. Three of them had left previous coaches because they were not happy with their progress. They all had talent, but they all had idiosyncracies which had prevented them from achieving their goal. One athlete developed sores at the corner of his mouth as he got fitter. He had a vitamin B complex deficiency, and when it was corrected he had no difficulty in running several sub-four miles. Sometimes it is things like this that make the difference between success and failure. Frank Horwill Serpentine Running Club - Advice - Running a four minute mile Caution!

These articles were first published many year's ago and whilst some are as relevant today as they were when new, many are now mostly of historical interest as modern research and coaching methods have superseded them. Running a Four Minute Mile By Frank Horwill Here's a training programme designed to crack the ultimate goal: the sub-four-minute mile Although a man of 40 years of age, Eamonn Coghlan, has run a mile in under four minutes, achieving this feat is still a major accomplishment denied to tens of thousands of other athletes. First breaks into this domain have been unexpectedly spectacular. Some runners crash through the barrier, while others creep across it. For example, John Buckner (GB) went from 4:02 for the distance to 3:53 in one quantum leap. However, the first sub-four-minute man, Roger Bannister, made it by only six-tenths of a second. The late Gordon Pirie, a former 3km world record holder, cut it finer - he made it by a tenth of a second in a race against Herb Elliott (Australia) in Ireland.

On hearing the result, Pirie screamed out 'I've done, I've done it!' and ran to each competitor in the race with the same message. It has to be admitted that he was always close to it with a previous best of 4:00.9. It was his one and only sub-four run, whereas Steve Scott (USA) has chalked up 100 runs inside the time. Some have attained their goal by unusual means. Terry Sullivan (Southern Rhodesia, as was) bought a book written by Bannister's coach. He started at page 1 and did precisely what was written, becoming the only man on the African continent to duck under the barrier. How to spot the signs What are the indications that one is ready to join the select few to achieve this magical state? Years ago, when 880yds was raced, it was accepted that a time of 1:52 was the minimum speed necessary. Today, for the 800m, it would be half-a-second faster.

But former mile record holder John Landy (Australia) cut it fine; his best 800m was only 1:51.3, yet he ran a 3:58 mile. The 800m time appears to have a direct effect on miling aspirations. Noureddine Morceli, with a mile time of 3:44.39, has an 800m time of 1:43.99, which if multiplied by two is 3:27.98, 16.41 secs short of his mile time. Seb Coe's best mile is 3:47.33; his 800m time, 1:41.73, when doubled, is 23.87 secs short of his mile figure. Said Aouita's best mile is 3:46.76, his 800m time is 1:43.86 - 19.04 secs short.

If we take an average of these deficits it is 19.6 secs, and if we apply that as a measure to one's 800m time, we get an estimate of our miling potential, eg, 1:52/800m X 2 = 3:44 + 19 = 4:03. It is clear that an athlete with an 800m time of 1:50 and less has a better chance of running a sub-four mile. But all is not lost for the non-speedy athlete. One of my runners in 1970 had a reading of only 1:51 for 800m but he ran a 3:56 mile. Using the previous calculations, his combined 800m time was only 14 secs short of his mile time. Thus we have a range of 14-19 secs deficit to measure miling potential. The important omitted factor in this case was his 3 km time, 7mins.49 secs.

If we halve this we get 3:54.5, and the customary deduction to ascertain the 1,500m time is less 15 secs. In this case it comes to 3:39.5, the equivalent of a 3:56.5 / mile (adding 17secs to the 1,500m time). How much preparation? The age when an athlete is most likely to break four minutes for the first time is now 22. Two decades ago it was 24. The youngest-ever sub-four man was 17-year-old Jim Ryun, who went on to break world records at the mile, 1,500m, half-mile and 800m. The 1,500m gold medal escaped him in two Olympics. He suffered all his athletic life from asthma. Opinions differ as to the preparatory work required leading up to the track season. Arthur Lydiard (NZ) advocated building up to 100 miles a week of steady running for 10 weeks, followed by six weeks of extensive, fartlek-type hill running.

In stark contrast, Bannister did only 28 miles a week in the winter, most of it on an ash track, five laps to the mile, consisting mainly of 10 X 440 yds in 66secs, with 440 yds jog recovery in a fast two minutes. Each month the time for the repetitions was reduced by a second. He also did 3 x 1½ miles on the track at 14:30 pace for 5km. He reached the stage when the 440 yd reps were being done in 56 secs. Lydiard's protege, Peter Snell, 16 years after Bannister's best time of 3:58.8 was to run 4.5 secs faster on three-and-a-half times the quantity of training. Sebastian Coe devoted his winter to weight-training three times a week, hill running and a session at his estimated 5km pace (13:20). He was able to run 7 X 800m well under 2:08s with 45 secs rest.

His longest run was 10 miles at sub-6 mins/mile and shorter runs at 5½ mins/mile. He started each track season with an indoor race at 3km in under eight minutes. Study the physiological make-up of the mile If opinions differed as to what winter work produced the best results, there was some unanimity about the necessity of frequent weekly track sessions during the summer. A sub-four-minute aspirant can do no better than look at the physiological make-up of the mile race. The total oxygen requirement is nearly 40 litres, of which only half can be breathed in - thus it is half-aerobic and half-anaerobic. Aerobic running comes in many guises. There is pure aerobic running: jogging - 100%, marathon speed - 98%. But there is also predominantly aerobic running: 10km speed - 90%, 5km speed - 80% and 3km speed - 60%. The difference in actual execution is 4secs per 400m, or 16 secs per mile.

For example, if the marathon pace is 6:00 / mile (90 secs / 400m), half-marathon pace would be 5:44 / mile, 10km pace would be 5:28 / mile, 5km pace 5:12 / mile and 3km pace 4:56 / mile. This, of course, works in reverse. Given a 1,500m time of 4:00 (64 secs / 400), the 3km pace would be 68 / 400 and the 5km pace 72 secs / 400. The anaerobic requirement is as follows: 100m - 100%, 200m -95%, 400m - 83%, 800m - 67% and the mile - 50%. Physiologists are agreed that the oxygen uptake (VO2 max) is best improved by work in the range of 80-100% VO2 max.

Sub-four milers must acquire a VO2 max in excess of 75mls/kg/min. The maximum for runners is around 82mls/kg/min. This 80 - 100% zone will rule out jogging and marathon pace running. Half-marathon pace work just gets into the pathway at the slower end, while the athlete's 3km speed occupies the other faster, predominantly aerobic pathway. A programme to break the barrier We are now in a position to compile a programme based on physiological data to break the four-minute barrier for the mile: Day 1 - (Aerobic, 80% VO2 max). Run half-marathon distance 64secs per mile slower than for one's best mile time. Example: best mile time 4:10, run 5:14 / mile or as near as possible to this. Day 2 - (Anaerobic, 110% VO2max). 2 x 1 x 400 + 1 x 800 + 1 x 300, at 15 secs per 100m throughout.

Take 30 secs rest after 400m, 60secs rest after 800m and a lap walk after 300m before repeating. Day 3 - (Aerobic, 90% VO2 max). Run 10km 48 secs / mile slower than for one's best mile time. Example: best mile 4:10, run 4:58 / mile. Day 4 - (Anaerobic, 130% VO2 max). 4 x 400, 4 secs per 400m faster than per 400m for best mile time. Example: best mile 4:08 (62/400), run 400ms in 58 secs, 3 mins rest. Day 5 - (Aerobic, 95% VO2max). Run 5 x 1K at 8 secs per 400m slower than for best mile time.

Example: Best mile 4:04 (61 / 400), run at 69 / 400 = 2:52, with 60 secs rest. Day 6 - REST. Day 7 - (Anaerobic). 1 x 350, 1 x 300, 1 x 250, 1 x 200, 1 x 150. All full out, with 400m walk after each. N.B. Race every other seventh day instead of this session. On Day 5, alternate this session each week with an aerobic 100% VO2 max session of 4 by1,500m, 4 secs per 400m slower than for one's best mile time. Example: best mile time 4:02 (60.5 / 400m), run 64.5 / 400, with 3mins rest after each. There is a competitive pattern called 'psycho-logical race preparation'.

This is where each month starts with an over-distance race, either 5km or 3km, then an under-distance race, either 400m or 800m, then the specialist distance, in this case 1,500m or a mile. The first confirms endurance, the second speed and the last brings both together. Beware the third lap The great destroyer of sub-four ambitions is the third lap. Partly to blame for this is the conversion of 440yd tracks to 400m. Many athletes believe that the ability to run three minutes or just under for three circuits of a metric track puts them in line for a sub-four mile. However, 1,200m in three minutes is 3:45 pace for 1,500m, which converts to a 4:03 mile. A more meaningful time for three laps of a metric track is 2:55, which is 3:39 speed for 1,500m, or around 3:57 for the mile.

While the old-time milers made a point of running a three-quarters of a mile time trial each week (Jack Lovelock, 1936 Olympic 1,500m gold medallist and world-record holder, wrote in his diary: ‘Running three minutes for three laps is becoming too easy’), I have noticed a reluctance to do this even among good-class club athletes. One method of overcoming this reluctance is to ask the runner to cover 800m at level pace for his best 1,500m time, and then to sprint the next 100m full out (900m total), repeated three times. Gradually the sprint zone is extended by 100m a time until the entire third lap is sprinted. By this means, a runner may cover the first 800m in 2:08 (64 / 400), and then run the third lap in 60 secs. I have seen the 800m covered in two minutes and the third lap in 54 seconds using this method. This, of course, is good tactical training; it helps in creating a 'break' and covering one.

I have been fortunate in my 35 years of coaching to have assisted five athletes in breaking the four-minute barrier. Three of them had left previous coaches because they were not happy with their progress. They all had talent, but they all had idiosyncrasies which had prevented them from achieving their goal. One athlete developed sores at the corner of his mouth as he got fitter. He had a vitamin B complex deficiency, and when it was corrected he had no difficulty in running several sub-four miles. Sometimes it is things like this that make the difference between success and failure. Roger Bannister breaks four-minutes mile - May 06, 1954 - HISTORY.com Roger Bannister breaks four-minutes mile Share this: Roger Bannister breaks four-minutes mile Author Roger Bannister breaks four-minutes mile URL Publisher A+E Networks On this day in 1954, at the Iffley Road Track in Oxford, England, medical student Roger Bannister becomes the first person in recorded history to run the mile in under four minutes. Roger Bannister was born in Middlesex on March 23, 1929.

His parents couldn’t afford to send him to school, so he ran his way in: Bannister won a track scholarship to Oxford, where he studied medicine and was a running sensation. He caused a furor in England when he declined to run the 1500 meters in the 1948 London Olympics so he could concentrate on his medical studies. He did run in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, but finished fourth. Again, the British press scorned him. He then resolved to break track and field’s most famous barrier, the four-minute mile, a feat many believed to be impossible. Bannister had limited time to train, as he was enrolled at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School. He would run 30 minutes most days, focusing the rest of his time on his study of neurology. On May 6, 1954, Bannister was running for the Amateur Athletic Association in Oxford against runners from the university in their annual match. He ran with two friends, who paced him, and then sprinted the last 200 yards, for a record time of 3:59.4.

Later that month, Australian John Landy broke Bannister’s record by less than a second. The two were then made out to be rivals. In August, Bannister and Landy met face-to-face at the British Empire Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, where 35,000 spectators watched what was billed as the “mile of the century.” Landy led Bannister the entire race, but Bannister out-sprinted Landy down the straightaway to win by five yards and less than a second, 3:58.8 to 3:59.6. Their two times were the third and fourth recorded miles run in under four minutes in history. Bannister finished his medical degree and became a practicing neurologist and neuroscience researcher. Knighted in 1975, Sir Roger Bannister served as director of the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases in London.

Long after his career as a runner had ended, in an interview with Bill Heine of BBC’s Radio Oxford, Bannister called running a “powerful source of self expression” and said of his talent on the track, “I believe that as I grew up through adolescence, this capacity to run without pain or discomfort became part of me, and it found its expression in running in cross country races, running with friends, for the sheer enjoyment running across the countryside. Running, not walking, and, eventually this became a track event with more and more people watching and people concerned with stopwatches.” Related Videos BBC ON THIS DAY | 6 | 1954: Bannister breaks four-minute mile About This Site | Text Only 1954: Bannister breaks four-minute mile Roger Bannister, a 25-year-old British medical student, has become the first man to run a mile in less than four minutes. His time was 3mins 59.4 seconds, achieved at the Iffley Road track in Oxford and watched by about 3,000 spectators. Bannister, once president of the Oxford club, was running for the Amateur Athletic Association against his old university during their annual match.

The race was carefully planned and he was aided by two pacemakers, Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway. Brasher took the lead as the first pacemaker, Bannister slotted in behind, with Chataway in third place. When Brasher began to feel the strain, Bannister signalled for Chataway to take over. Just over 200 yards from the finish, Bannister took the lead with a final burst of energy. He sprinted to the line in record time and fell exhausted into the arms of a friend, the Rev Nicholas Stacey. Pandemonium broke out when spectators heard news that Bannister had officially beaten the four-minute mile. He had prepared for the race the previous week at Paddington Green in London in high winds. The weather at Iffley Road was not ideal for record-breaking - a 15mph crosswind with gusts of up to 25mph meant that Bannister nearly called off the attempt. Bannister has beaten his main rival to the record - Australian athlete John Landy. Both had run quite close to the time but the magic number four had proved elusive until now.

The First Sub-Four-Minute Mile | History Today The First Sub-Four-Minute Mile England Sport Richard Cavendish describes the race in which Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile, on May 6th, 1954. Breaking four minutes for the mile had been an obsession among middle-distance runners for years. A time of just under four and a half minutes had been recorded far back in 1861 by an Irishman named Heaviside. In 1923 the famous Finnish athlete Paavo Nurmi ran the distance in 4 minutes 10.4 seconds. Slowly the figure came inching down. The New Zealander Jack Lovelock did 4.07.6 in 1933, the Englishman Sydney Wooderson 4.06.4 in 1937, the Swede Arne Andersson 4.01.6 in 1944 and in 1945 another Swede, Gunder Haegg, lowered the record to 4.01.3, only a fraction off the target.

At Oxford that windy May afternoon in 1954 a far bigger crowd than would normally have been seen at the university's ramshackle Iffley Road stadium gathered there because word had gone round lecture halls, coffee shops, pubs and places where they sang that something exciting was up. An attempt was to be made on the four-minute barrier as part of a match between the university and a team from the Amateur Athletic Association. As it proved, the mile event was no contest in terms of the match - the university runners were totally outclassed - but it could hardly have rated higher in terms of excitement. The three principal runners involved for the AAA were Roger Bannister, Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher, and the attempt had been carefully planned between them, though down to the last moment they had misgivings about the weather conditions. The bespectacled Brasher set a pace for the first two laps which Bannister at the time feared was too slow (as he revealed in his book, The First Four Minutes), but it proved to be exactly right. The halfway mark was reached in 1 minute 58 seconds.

The diminutive Chataway took the lead halfway through the third lap, with the far taller Bannister looming leanly behind him. On they went until the far straight of the last lap, when Bannister lengthened his stride, passed Chataway at speed and thundered majestically round the final bend. Head back, arms splaying out, he broke the tape, where an official with a nonchalant pipe in his mouth was concentrating on a stopwatch. Chataway came gamely in not far behind in second place and Brasher finished fourth. There was a long pause while everyone waited in pent-up excitement until at last the race announcer solemnly gave out the result, saying who had won, who had come second and so on. Then he took a breath and said, 'Time...' and waited evilly to notch the tension even higher before going on to announce 'Three minutes...' The rest was lost in a storm of cheering, but the winning time turned out to have been 3.59.4. It was less than a second under the mark, but the job was done and no one who saw it done that day is ever likely to forget it.

Bannister's time was bettered within only a few weeks by the Australian runner John Landy, who turned in 3.57.9 in a race at Turku in Finland on June 21st. This set the stage for the 'miracle mile' at the Empire Games in Vancouver a few weeks later still, on August 7th, which pitted the two of them against each other. Bannister won after an epic race in which Landy led almost all the way, with Bannister overhauling him at the end to win. They both broke four minutes, Bannister coming home in 3.58.8 to Landy's 3.59.6. Bannister retired from athletics later in the year to concentrate on his career in medicine. He was knighted in 1975.

Question: Who was the second athlete to run a mile in under 4 minutes?
Answer: John Landy